So correct Hasselfeide........Big Mac was one of the greatest Baritone's ever. I love all the vocal critics on RU-vid who know so much about singing, but can't sing a note.
My favorite Baritone I heard him at the end of his career, I never heard a bigger voice live in the Met. He was a tremendous talent. Incredible interpreter.
Whatever you call it, wobble, vibrato . its there and he is still great. It seemed that in the late 70s he almost had no vibrato. A straight huge marvelous sound and always great on stage.
Whoa! Where did you get this? Any leads on Mac singing a , broadcast of the Der Hollander at the met in the late 60's? Man, listen to that F# at the end!
Wobble, vibrato,tremolo, can anyone criticizing this great singer even turn pages for him,,,, if you can do better, at any age, then please post,,, and if you never heard him live, you can be forgiven,,
Your Dad was the greatest Baritone ever, I heard him at the end of his career, My Dad heard him in the beginning and felt the same way, when Gobbi first heard MacNeil he jumped out of his seat. Cornell MacNeil was simply the greatest!! R.I.P BIG MAC!
@roselandalvin You are right that there is an acceptable range for the vibrato. I don't think MacNeil quite has a full wobble here and definitely not on all pitches. What I think you are hearing more is that sometimes the vibrato, rather than being too slow, is too wide. Slightly too wide. And in other parts of the aria it is not so wide. It is also at times slightly inverted where you hear too much accent on the trough of the pitch instead of on the top.
MacNeil started relatively late. But when his career took off he was the best baritone in the world. He started to have vocal trouble quite early. I heard him sing this role live in 1975. He was wonderful, but the next year he sang very badly in Nabucco. He went into decline therafter. There is a slight wobble here but nothing serious. When he was off, the whole voice lost focus and was strained and unpleasant.
